Short Summary

There has been another kidnapping, this time in Amsterdam. In the early hours of Friday?

Description

There has been another kidnapping, this time in Amsterdam. In the early hours of Friday morning (October 28) Dutch millionaire businessman Maurits Caransa was pounced on by an unknown number of men, as he left an Amsterdam night club. The police have been flooded with hoax telephone calls, but they are treating seriously one call from a man claiming to represent the Red Army Faction of the West German Baader-Meinhof terrorist gang. The caller said that they had Mr. Caransa.

SYNOPSIS: Mr. Caransa, who is a 61-year-old Jew, lives in Vinkeveen, South of Amsterdam. A self-made millionaire, he is one of Hollands most successful businessmen, owning hotels, houses, shops and office blocks throughout the country. The Dutch police, who have already started an extensive search for Mr. Caransa, are hoping that terrorists are not involved in the kidnapping.

The fear is, however, that he is being held in another attempt to force German authorities to release extremists from West German jails. That campaign has already led to the murder of a West German businessman and a dramatic hijack and even more dramatic rescue. The ???nsa family have appointed a business colleague of Mr. Caransa (seen here in a television interview) to act as an intermediary. But West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, speaking about terrorism in London, to the Institute for Strategic Studies, ruled out any sort of deal.